---
sidebar_label: Overview
description: |-
  These are general upgrade instructions for OpenBao for both non-HA and HA
  setups. Please ensure that you also read the version-specific upgrade notes.
---

# Upgrading OpenBao

These are general upgrade instructions for OpenBao for both non-HA and HA setups.
_Please ensure that you also read any version-specific upgrade notes which can be
found in the sidebar._

:::danger

**Important:** Always back up your data before upgrading! OpenBao does not
make backward-compatibility guarantees for its data store. Simply replacing the
newly-installed OpenBao binary with the previous version will not cleanly
downgrade OpenBao, as upgrades may perform changes to the underlying data
structure that make the data incompatible with a downgrade. If you need to roll
back to a previous version of OpenBao, you should roll back your data store as
well.

:::

OpenBao upgrades are designed such that large jumps (ie 1.3.10 -> 1.7.x) are
supported. The upgrade notes for each intervening version must be reviewed. The
upgrade notes may describe additional steps or configuration to update before,
during, or after the upgrade.

## Agent

The OpenBao Agent is an API client of the OpenBao Server. OpenBao APIs are almost
always backwards compatible. When they are not, this is called out in the
upgrade guide for the new OpenBao version, and there is a lengthy deprecation
period. The OpenBao Agent version can lag behind the OpenBao Server version, though
we recommend keeping all OpenBao instances up to date with the most recent minor OpenBao version
to the extent possible.

## Testing the upgrade

It's always a good idea to try to ensure that the upgrade will be successful in
your environment. The ideal way to do this is to take a snapshot of your data
and load it into a test cluster. However, if you are issuing secrets to third
party resources (cloud credentials, database credentials, etc.) ensure that you
do not allow external network connectivity during testing, in case credentials
expire. This prevents the test cluster from trying to revoke these resources
along with the non-test cluster.

## Non-HA installations

Upgrading non-HA installations of OpenBao is as simple as replacing the OpenBao
binary with the new version and restarting OpenBao. Any upgrade tasks that can be
performed for you will be taken care of when OpenBao is unsealed.

Always use `SIGINT` or `SIGTERM` to properly shut down OpenBao.

Be sure to also read and follow any instructions in the version-specific
upgrade notes.

## HA installations

Please refer to our [OpenBao HA upgrades](/docs/upgrading/vault-ha-upgrade) documentation for more details.
